The South Carolina House of Representatives on Monday opened floor debate on a Republican-backed congressional redistricting proposal that would reshape the state’s electoral map in a way that could leave Democrats with zero seats in the state’s seven-member U.S. House delegation, according to the Associated Press. The plan, supported by President Donald Trump, targets the district held by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the lone Democrat among South Carolina’s House representatives and a former House majority whip who has served in Congress since 1993.
Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who has represented a Black-majority district stretching from Columbia to Charleston for more than three decades, would see his constituency redrawn under the proposal. Democrats currently hold only one of the state’s seven House seats, and the proposal would restructure Clyburn’s district in a way that could make it competitive for a Republican challenger.
The South Carolina debate is the latest in a series of Republican-led redistricting pushes across the South. Lawmakers in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana have advanced similar efforts following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which had required states to draw districts that gave Black voters the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The ruling opened the way for Republican legislatures to reorganize districts with large Black populations that have historically elected Democrats.
MSI previously reported that the South Carolina House started its redistricting debate as part of a broader GOP strategy to flip congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Tensions over the map are not strictly partisan within the state House, the AP reported. Some South Carolina Republicans have expressed reservations about a plan targeting Clyburn’s seat, reflecting internal disagreement over whether the political gains of a clean-sweep map justify the potential legal and reputational costs. The debate is expected to continue as the bill moves through committee and toward a floor vote in the coming days.